Sold Date: August 24, 2020
Start Date: February 14, 2020
Final Price: $19.95 (USD)
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This listing is mostly for informational purposes and an advertising presence on ebay.  While the book is available

for sale from me, if you order it on Amazon, you will get it quicker, and if you don't live in the USA, with much lower

shipping costs.  So please buy it there, though you are welcome to contact me through ebay if you have questions.  Thank you.

A few years ago I published a CD-Rom of databases, and in 2016, I used those databases as the basis for a book, Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs, a comprehensive reference to Mercury Living Presence recordings.  As a long time listener to and collector of Living Stereo recordings, I have been looking for a while for a comprehensive reference to the RCA Living Stereo recordings and have found several rather incomplete ones which nonetheless are filled with valuable information.  So following up on my Mercury project, I decided to prepare a comprehensive catalog of RCA Classical recordings from the beginning of the Living Stereo recordings to a point in time generally considered to be several years after the end of the classic Living Stereo period:  this new book RCA Victor Living Stereo LPs and CDs (also available on CD-Rom).

Interest in Living Stereo recordings  has been at a high point in recent years because of the series of Living Stereo CD and SACD releases and more recently the large box sets "Living Stereo" recordings plus box sets of individual artists like Rubinstein, Heifetz, Reiner with the Chicago Symphony, Munch with the Boston Symphony and many others.  In the database, I have identified which LPs have been reissued on SACD or CD including the original Living Stereo individual CD and SACD releases, plus those that have been released in the 3 Living Stereo box sets.  Also included in the database are the CD numbers and what LPs or works they correspond to in over a dozen other individual artist box sets.  However earlier CD releases in the 1980s prior to the beginning of Living Stereo CD releases are not noted, as those releases are generally not reflective of the quality on the original master tapes.

Through much of the history of recorded music, the Victor Company, later bought by the Radio Corporation of America and renamed RCA Victor, had on its roster of orchestras and musicians many of the world's most renowned artists.  In late 1953 RCA started doing experimental recordings in stereophonic sound.  In early 1954, these experiments intensified with most orchestral recordings being recorded in both mono, for early release, and in stereo to refine the stereo recording techniques and perhaps for eventual stereo release, though at that time there was no medium on which they could be released.  Some of these early experiments were flawed, but many of them eventually became acclaimed as supreme examples of the art of recording music.  In 1955 with the advent of consumer stereo tape recorders, some of these stereo recordings were released on half-track stereo tapes recorded on 1/4 inch tape at 7.5 inches per second.  In 1958, with the advent of stereo records, "Living Stereo" was born.  With decades of recording experience and some of the world's finest artists on its roster, RCA became the leader in recorded stereo sound, though they had some vigorous competition from Mercury Records' Living Presence Stereo records and later British Decca, with whom they also collaborated and cross-licensed.  Earlier RCA had also had extensive cross-licensing agreements with HMV, now part of EMI.

In addition to background, historical, and explanatory material, there are 3 main lists in the book:

A list of all LPs for which I have been able to find any evidence that they actually existed from LM/LSC 1806, Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's historic March 1954 stereo recording of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra up to the last numbers in that series recorded in the December, 1970 issue of the Schwann Catalog.  Also included are multi-record box sets issued during the same time frame and a few other LPs.  These are arranged in numerical order, and special recordings such as the LD/LDS Soria Series recordings are included in their proper numerical place.  For most stereo instrumental and orchestral recordings and many mono recordings, complete contents of the albums are listed.  The listings of contents for vocal recordings are more limited, often just the composer and title of the composition, but without listings of all individual songs or selections.  The names of soloists, conductors and orchestras are included as are recording dates wherever possible, but the recording dates are not as complete as I would like.  Schwann Catalog New Listings release dates are included for most stereo era recordings and some earlier ones.

A second list is similar to the complete listing but eliminates numbers for records that very likely do not exist and virtually all recordings that were not made in stereo.  It does, however, include all known and suspected recordings that were made in stereo even if they were only released in mono at the time.  Most of these have subsequently been released in stereo, but not all, and some have not been released in stereo by RCA but by other companies which made the original recordings and own the rights to them.  It is also in alphabetical order by composer and title.  There is no database listing the RCA Victrola line of budget reissues as such.  However, in the second and third lists, I do list Victrola stereo reissues of stereo recordings not originally released in stereo.  So, for example LM 1807, recorded in stereo two days before LM/LSC 1806 is noted as being reissued in stereo on VICS 1042, and The Dance of the Seven Veils, included on LM 1806 but not LSC 1806, is noted as being released on VICS 1424. 

A third list is identical to the second one but again in numerical order by record number like the complete listing.  Again, it eliminates numbers for records that very likely do not exist and virtually all recordings that were not made in stereo.    

The first 4 pictures are the front and back cover of the book and 2 interior pages.  The next 2 pictures are the CD Rom version with databases.  The next 3 pictures are the front cover and 2 interior pages from the somewhat similar Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs book, which may also be of interest to you if you are interested in RCA Victor Living Stereo LPs and CDs.  The book is available on American and foreign Amazon sites and possibly as another ebay listing.  The last picture is the CD-Rom version of the Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs databases CD-Rom.  In addition to the databases and CD specific files, the CDs contains text and lists that  appear in the book in pdf form but reformatted for easier reading on a computer screen.

Shipping:   The price is $19.95 and includes free Media Mail shipping in the USA. Shipping to Europe and elsewhere is so expensive that you are much better off buying it on Amazon in Europe and getting free or cheap local shipping (but then send me an email with its printing date to let me know you have it and be put on a list for free email updates).   Payment by PayPal is expected within three days of purchase, but you should email me within 48 hours if you haven't paid within 48 hours.   Any questions?   Send me an email.   Also see my other auctions and my feedback.

If you would like to buy a copy of both this and Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs at the same time (or within about an hour of each other), I will invoice you for $36 for both books together, with free shipping in the USA.